Swampscott FD chief set to retire; department hoping to promote within

SWAMPSCOTT – Chief Richard Carmody, a 32-year veteran of the department, will hang up his turnout gear for the final time when he retires July 7.Union President William Hyde Jr. said the union would like to see Carmody’s replacement promoted from within the ranks.”We’re not looking for a nationwide search,” he said. “We’d like to see someone who came up through the ranks and knows the fire service. But the Board of Selectmen have not even called for a chief’s exam yet.”Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said he made a decision to hold a deputy chief’s exam, but the exam scheduled this month was cancelled after not enough candidates signed up.He said he wanted to fill the deputy chief’s position then fill the chief’s position, but decided not to call for a chief’s exam due to the lack of interest in the deputy chief’s exam.Maylor said he made a conscious decision to proceed with holding a chief’s exam after filling the deputy chief slot so both exams would be held in March 2009.”In the interim I will have to make recommendations as to who should serve as chief and deputy chief,” he said. “I will make a recommendation and ultimately the Board of Selectmen will make the decision.”Calls to Board of Selectmen Chairman Adam Forman were not immediately returned Monday, but according to Selectman Marc Paster, who said the selectmen knew months ago Carmody planned on retiring, the Board of Selectmen has not discussed Carmody’s pending retirement or made any decision as to how to proceed.”We haven’t talked about it,” he said. “We haven’t called for an exam or taken any action. We need to go over the options and decide how to proceed. We’ll either call for an exam, implement a search or both.”Paster said his preference would be to call for a chief’s exam and promote from within the department.”We have qualified people in the department waiting to move up the ladder,” he said. “I’d like to hire from within.”In the past, the town has promoted within the department. When former Fire Chief William Hyde retired in 2000, Larry Galante was appointed as his replacement and Carmody followed in Galante’s footsteps as chief in 2004.Hyde said if a new chief is not hired before Carmody retires, he expects Acting Deputy Chief Michael Champion would serve as acting chief.Earlier this year, Selectman Adam Walker suggested the town look into the feasibility of using call firefighters and the selectmen recently voted to fund but not fill a firefighter position, which has some members of the department concerned.Several firefighters, who asked not to be identified, expressed concern the position would not be filled, which is something Selectman Anthony Scibelli said has not been raised.”There has been no discussion of not filling that position,” he said. “I can’t comment beyond that at this time.”